1959 



* MEGACLINIUM maximum. 



Largest MegacUnium. 



GYNANDRIA MONANDRIA. 



Nal. ord. Orchidace*, § MALAXiDEiE. 

 MEGACLINIUM. Supra, vol. \2.fol. 989. 



M. maximum ; sepalo supremo acuto lateralibus margine involutis acuminatls- 



simis reflexis, labello lineari revoluto. 

 M. maximum. Lindl. gen. Sj- sp. Orch. p. 47 ; siiie char. 



Facies herbcB fere M. falcati, sed paulo robustior, et folia mirtus emargi' 

 natu et margine subrevoluta. Rachis ensiformi-falcata, dentata, mullijloru, 

 9 poll, longa, ])allide viridis. Flores herbacei. Pedicelli et calyx extus san- 

 guineo-maculati. Sepalum supremum erecliim, oblong um., acutum, denticula- 

 tum, utrinque callosum, lateralibus duplo longius ; lateralia triangularia, e 

 laid basi acuminalissima, rejiexa, marginibus involutis. Petala parva, plana, 

 linearia, acuta, pallidc viridia. Columna lata, discoidea, tenuis, marginata, 

 basi cum labello lineari fusco revoluto mobili elastice articulata. Anthera 

 iinilocularis. PoUinia 2 solida, geminaia, neclobata nee lined exaratd. 



Nearly a thousand plates ago, the first species of this 

 most singular genus was published in the present work. At 

 a later period I found the imperfect remains of a second in 

 the Banksian Herbarium, collected by Smeathman in Sierra 

 Leone ; and this has at last been added to our gardens by 

 the correspondents of the Messrs. Loddiges, in whose collec- 

 tion the drawing was made in August last. 



In general appearance it is a good deal like M.falcatum, 

 from which species it differs, in having larger leaves, which 

 are less deeply notched at the point, and more revolute at 

 the edges; in its larger sabre-shaped rachis, which is as 

 much as nine inches long ; and in the form of all the parts 



* From /Jeytif large, and KXivrt a bed, in allusion to the broad, sword-shaped 

 bed or rachis of the flowers. 



